Livestock guardian dogs

[Bear Foot Farm]

.

 

[zazouse]

WRONG .. these dogs here are very well aware of what is going on at all times, i have seen them get up from a slumber and take off after something in the area before the birds even know it.. don't let that word sleeping throw you off

.

 

[centrarchid]

ZAZOUS,

You are correct, the apparent sleeping of the does not mean dog does not have situation awareness or an effective response time. Sleep is not deep and dogs are very much aware of communications between birds and the dogs can easily discern alarms and respond quickly and aggressively. The dogs cannot be with all chickens during day so the dogs simply find a comfortable location and let chickens be the predator detection system. A bad or inept dog does respond. Many dogs are inept but properly conditioned dogs are not.

 

[Kelsykin]

I currently have a 4 1/2 month of Maremma Sheepdog. He was raised with chickens and ducks. He guards our flock very well for one so young. he knows his area and pretty much stays there.

 

[zazouse]

I currently have a 4 1/2 month of Maremma Sheepdog. He was raised with chickens and ducks. He guards our flock very well for one so young. he knows his area and pretty much stays there.

Have you ever raised up a LGD before?
i would love to see a photo of him, don't see many of that breed here .

 

[Kelsykin]

I have had others giant breeds and livestock breeds before. This is our first and we love him to pieces.


Let me see if I can find a picture of him and post it

 

[Kelsykin]

I have had others giant breeds and livestock breeds before. This is our first and we love him to pieces.


Let me see if I can find a picture of him and post it.

This is one of the few I have of him awake. May have to wait for warmer weather to get a good picture of him.

 

[zazouse]

So they don't have long hair like the Pyrenees? i have never seen one in person, never even heard of them in my area.

 

[SunnySkies]

That's one of the main reasons they aren't a good choice for "guarding" chickens.

I do not have daylight predators. But they come wide awake in a second if they need to. Plus mine are young...I fully expect this to change.

They are doing a great job at protecting my birds.

Herding pigs...not at all. We had that experiment this morning. Won't be repeating that.

ETA: Cooking in the kitchen and looked out the window just now and saw my girl wake up from a dead sleep on the deck, go flying off at a dead run, and now she is standing in the driveway barking at something. I don't see anything, but she obviously heard something she didn't like. Boy is lazier, but he is the designated night barker now. If both of them get going at night, I know to run outside, flat out run, not just grab a jacket and head out.

 

[zazouse]

I have different breeds of dogs for different reasons here.
This is my herder
Her name is Abbie

This is one of my flusher dogs i use them to fan out in the woods to flush out any daytime critters that may be lurking when making rounds.
His name is Snickers he is a Coydog.



Say cheese

Now smile